Can Michael Beasley fix the Washington Wizards?

We’d like to welcome a new guest author to the Wages of Wins Network! Vivek Netrakanti, an avid Nets fan that has written at Nets are Scorching. Today Vivek would actually like to focus on a different terrible team in the East…

The Washington Wizards are a team that has an incredible amount of talent, but just needs to put it together to become a good team.

I heard that statement from an Orlando Magic color commentator as I watched the waning moments of a somewhat close Magic win over Washington. As I listened to this, I realized that I had heard this before, and that this sentiment was shared by nearly all casual fans and NBA “analysts”. This idea has generally become an accepted feeling about the Wizards around the league.

However, the truth is, the Wizards are just a team that employs a lot of ineffective basketball players; hence, their record is 7-25. Luckily for them, people associated with the league feel that their players are filled with some magical upside that will eventually shine. Also, lucky for them, some of their players with this fake upside have great per game averages, which look aesthetically great.

So what does this all mean? The Wizards have some players that are perceived as good, which means they have a plethora of trade pieces. As the trade deadline approaches us (March 15th), the Wizards really should be a team that looks to improve a very poor roster and take advantage of the misconceptions that have been construed of their current player pool.

I’ve thought of two realistic trades that would make the Wizards much better than they are now, and they focus on shipping either Andray Blatche or Nick Young out of Washington.

According to Chris Broussard, the Blazers are looking to move Gerald Wallace and Raymond Felton, and have appeared to be very serious in their hope to move Felton. Considering that Wallace was nearly moved a couple months ago for four of New Jersey’s first round draft picks, it’s not unreasonable that the Blazers would consider offers from the Wizards for him, especially if they throw in picks of their own, which are likely to be top 10 picks at the very least. Common standards around the league hold that Blatche, who averages 10 points per game and 7 rebounds per game, and Young, who averages around 16 points per game are very good young pieces, who are pretty much equal to draft picks. Additionally, the Blazers would lose Felton, a player they have wanted to move since the beginning of the year. Portland would only be locked into Blatche’s contract, while gaining the ability to let the others walk, so they would actually have more cap this offseason. Meanwhile, the Wizards get Gerald Wallace, a near star player with a WP48 of .194, and Felton, who, while very bad, can’t possibly be worse than Young, Blatche, or Crawford. Either way, Felton is a free agent after the season.

Who does the media thinks wins the trade? The Blazers. They supposedly nab three players oozing with potential as well as two solid draft picks all while giving up Raymond Felton, whose struggles have been well documented.

Who does win this deal? The Wizards. They give up some very good draft picks, considering how abysmal their record has been recently, but also lose their most unproductive players. Believe it or not, but if the Wizards started the season without Young, Blatche, or Crawford, and instead had Wallace and Felton, they would be a likely 0.500 team.

Both Broussard and Sam Amico have claimed that it would be a shocker if Beasley remained in Minnesota for more than two weeks, and it’s tough to blame the Wolves; Beasley has perennially been ineffective and has also had numerous character issues. Still, Beasley is significantly better than Blatche, and the real kicker to this deal for Washington is that they can rid themselves of Beasley at the end of this season because he is a restricted free agent. Meanwhile, the Timberwolves, who are willing to move Beasley for virtually anything, get a player who is perceived to be useful to an NBA franchise.

Who does the media thinks wins the trade? There will probably be mixed answers to this one. On one hand, the Wolves rid themselves of Beasley, and acquire a player who is thought of as having potential (the Wolves reportedly want a first rounder for Beasley). On the other hand, Blatche’s contract runs for the next 3 seasons and could be a cap killer, assuming that the T-wolves can’t move him.

Who does win this deal? The Wizards win, through an addition by subtraction deal. While Beasley is by no means good, Blatche is a player that actually costs his team wins. Beasley makes the Wizards better for the six weeks that they’ll have him and then will leave to give another team headaches in the offseason.

-Vivek

Hope you enjoyed the trade scenarios. We definitely like to help improve teams here at the Wages of Wins. Feel free to pass along any scenarios or thoughts on our trades.

4 Responses to "Can Michael Beasley fix the Washington Wizards?"

I don’t feel like the media is close to calling the Blazers a winner in that trade. I have seen more bad media about Blatche and Young than any player in the league. They seem to be seen as lost causes and not the next great breakout to the media.

If the TWolves are looking to move Beasley do you think Atlanta would do Beasley for Marvin Williams to save Salary? The Wolves get 2 years of Marvin who’s a good defender, can shoot the 3 and is such a massive upgrade over Wes Johnson that the TWolves move from just out of the playoff picture to almost assuredly a 7th or 8th seed. Anyone looking at WP48 is going to laugh at that trade but the Hawks are over the cap and may be looking to shed salary.

Shawn,
Oh man that would be an awesome move for the Wolves. I would not put it past Atlanta to make a bad move like that. It seems to me they don’t quite realize why they are good (past Horford obviously) and doing that would confirm it.

As maybe the biggest Wizards fan who frequents this forum I can tell you without question that Andray Blatche has absolutely no trade value at the moment. I would be shocked if either one of those deals were agreed to.

Also, I don’t think the trade for Beasley would be worthwhile for the Wizards. The reason is that the Wizards tremendously and consistently over value the players on their roster and never seem to just let someone walk when they should. They are far too inclined to resign virtually any player. For some reason having a bad player under contract is better than cap space for them. This means that they would probably re-sign Beasley this summer to a deal that is longer and more expensive than Blatche. This doesn’t solve the problem much at all.